Aging isn’t easy. It’s especially not easy for women in the food and related world.
- It’s not easy if you’re dependent on an income that comes from standing on your feet – in a kitchen – all day to make a living.
- It’s not easy if you are always asked as an elder to provide expertise for free though it’s helping someone else make money or look like an expert.
- It’s not easy if you are invisible. Period.
This is a list of women with an abundance of talent and knowledge that can equate to almost any type of work that inspires payment, an interview, and anything beyond a mere mention in the acknowledgement section of a book. Laud them for their life’s work.
| Leni Sorensen, PhD | Food Scholar | https://www.instagram.com/indigohouseva/ |
| Charlotte Lyons | Former Ebony food editor | https://www.instagram.com/exclusivedish/ |
| Karen D. Taylor | Public and Oral Historian, Digital Humanities Scholar, Harlem Advocate | https://www.instagram.com/edgecombeavenue/ |
| Kimberly Brock Brown | First woman and African American president of American Culinary Federation | https://www.instagram.com/chefkimberlybrockbrown/ |
| Karen Watson | Retired gallerist, South Carolina | https://www.facebook.com/karen.watson.948 |
| Jan Whitaker | Subject matter expert: restaurants and department stores | restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com |
| Donna Battle-Pierce | Former Assistant Food Editor and Test Kitchen Director for the Chicago Tribune; food editor Chicago Defender | https://www.instagram.com/donnabattlepierce/ |
| Charlotte Jenkins | Charlotte Jenkins is an acclaimed chef and expert in Gullah Geechee cuisine and culture | https://www.instagram.com/gullahladies/ |